Dr Vino's wine blog

wine talk that goes down easy

The number one most emailed article right now over at the Times is entitled, “Take Bacon. Add Sausage. Blog.” It describes the improbable but wildly popular dish known as the “bacon explosion,” which consists of two pounds of bacon swaddling a “torpedo” of two pounds of Italian sausage, which wraps around a bacon core. Meat-tastic!

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44 Responses to “Bacon explosion: impossible food wine pairing?”

Don’t ever like to admit defeat where a wine pairing is concerned but this is clearly one for a beer. Something like Brooklyn Lager should do the trick or maybe a Goose Island IPA. Not a big red at any rate. You don’t want to add to the calorific overload with a whole load of alcohol and tannin!

In my opinion the best match can be a good Barbera d’Asti (or Barbera d’Alba) but old style (not aged in barrique) with a strong, lively acidity perfect to balance the richness and the fat of this succulent plate

The problem isn’t the richness of the fat or oil — any reasonably tannic/high alcohol wine should cut through the grease. The problem is the ungodly amount of salt (which would make the tannins taste bitter and awful. I’d go with a big jammy Zin, just because it’s just the sort of big, crass, American wine that would pair perfectly (symbolically at least) with this caloric abomination.

With all that salty grease I’d want a refreshing, acidic white wine with some body to stand up to the heaviness. Might as well tie the two latest blog entries together and say I’d go with the Montinore Pinot Gris (from Willamette Valley, OR) sold at Frankly Wines. It’s got nice lemon and apple notes.

With something that heavy, fatty, and salty the wine should have good acids, fair amount of body, and some sweetness. Acid need to cut the fat, body so you can still taste something after your palate has been assaulted, and sweetness to provide some refreshing contrast. My guess would be a Finger Lakes Johannisberg (can’t call it that anymore) Riesling or a Gewurtz. For the Rieslings, perhaps Chateau LaFayette Reneau, Heron Hill Ingle Vineyard and maybe Red Newt Cellars for the Gewurtz.

When I lived in Bologna we found some of the high acid local wines to go really well with rich pork products. No surprise there — the wine and good evolved together. A good authentic Lambrusco, chilled and slightly sparkling, would make a nice match, don’t you think? And we had a local white wine called Colli Bolognese Pignoletto that worked really well, too, especially the Frizzante variation.

Forget red wines. Even the slightest hint of tannin will interact miserably with all that salt, and truly light reds will not stand up to the power of this dish. Salt will also amplify alcohol, so what you’re looking for is a fruit-driven, low to moderate alcohol white, or perhaps even better, a crisp rosé (Bardolino Chiaretto, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Cerasuolo, Spanish reds from Navarra). As for whites, don’t be afraid of a bit of residual sugar, which will pair beautifully with the sweet pork. Think about German Riesling Kabinett or Spatlese, or Riesling from Canada, or the Finger Lakes. Likewise, a new world, fruity, inexpensive Gewurztraminer should do the trick. But the most obvious choice for this dish is sparkling wine. A Brut Rosé sparkler – Cava, Franciacorta, California, lighter styles from Champagne, and believe it or not, Brachetto d’Acqui or fizzy dry Lambrusco. Have fun with this dish!

I don’t get it. While there would be a lot of salt, it needn’t be too obvious to the tongue, depending on the type of bacon and sausage stuffing. Indeed, smoked and without lashings of BBQ sauce (ugh – palate killer), it could be no more challenging to match than any robust game meat. I’d try not competing with the richness and just go for a medium weight structured Bordeaux.

This is certainly and American pairing, so I must agree with the idea of a good over the top extracted wine such as one Four Vines zinfandels. Jammy to battle the salt, extraction to handle the bold flavor. And with a dish like this you certainly need the antioxidants and the cholesterol lowering qualities of red wine!

I can proudly say that I crafted my first (of many) bacon explosions for the Super Bowl yesterday. The occasion called for beer and that was the only thing on my mind during the game. (As a quick aside, I am convinced it is called the bacon explosion because you can actually hear your arteries rupturing.) In the future I like the idea of making a burger explosion. It would be the same idea, except bacon wrapped cheese burger – I have no idea if it will work, but in that case I would go with an earthy Bordeaux. The possibilities of what can be wrapped in bacon are deliciously endless!

What few have discovered yet, beside Jeremy Parzen of Do Bianchi, but everyone wants to try is the bacon-explosion’s best friend, a bottle of Vinoterra Saperavi 2003 or 2005 from the Republic of Georgia – where wine making first started.

[…] these “impossible” pairings for a while. What with such nontraditional calorie bombs as bacon explosion and oreo tower under our proverbial belts already, perhaps we should ease back into this theme with […]

Dry rose is the first thing that comes to mind. With a decent amount of red fruit. Perhaps something from Oregon or Washington. Some pinots might work. I can’t believe no one has mentioned bubbly! (Or if they did, I missed it.) I’m sure a lot of sparkling wines would go well with this, although I probably wouldn’t break out the expensive champagne. The fun pairing to try here would be sparkling shiraz.